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Is that BOTH sides of the story?

Do you really have both sides of the story? No one on here has the contract to review to see the specifics. We should not play "Arm chair Lawyers". Maybe CCD did really happen--bees do die--but typically QUALITY SURVIVES. I have to agree with LSPENDER. He said he saw first hand--that counts. I've been doing this for years and have seen loss. Some people don't always send out what they say they are sending to us here. Here is something to remember: 1. Get all the facts! 2. Talking it out is always the best answer.

I would like more info about you so called info about our bees. These were strong hives that were feed syrup and in very good shape. They were state inspected here for diseases. The hives that I did not deem strong enough are still in my yards, living and well. Please explain your comment, sounds almost as if I have offended you by being concerned about my bees. I don't know how you run your bee operation, but i am not a commercial beekeeper. I keep my bees, i don't just have bees. They are properly taken care of and were ready to send out. You commented that people should not be posting on this topic. Maybe it isn't that important to you, but please be a little more understanding. Some of our local beekeepers lost all their hives in this fiasco. Also i would like to talk to you on the phone.

I've posted names on here before and I'll do it agian. The same thing happend to me in 2006-2007. I rented bees to Scott Nelson, formerly of Nelson Family Apiaries, Wine Country Honey and now Bear Foot Honey Farm. I rented the bees directly to him as a beekeeper and stole the bees. Shook packages, Spread foul brood frames in my hives. Then loaded them on a truck with Adee's nets that didn't have any skirting so the whole load was almost dead when they got here. He still owes me $12500 as well as keeping 8 pallets of my bees. I've sucked it up as an education on my part and figure that as long as he's out there working people over I'll be here letting them know.

Interesting conversation

With a very large client:

Somewhere, in a small town jail in Georgia, ( USA ), is a russo-american who played fast and loose with other peoples' bees and money. Apparently the state troopers came to Calif and remanded him to custody. He is now awaiting an appearance before the county judge.

Even so, I'm going to small claims court this morning trying to enforce a judgement against the only grower that has ever stiffed me in over 30 yrs pollinating. The man has a gambling problem, and I may never see a dime.

Tom, i've also heard the rouskies have been caught again on the west side around lost hills about two weeks ago, they also were from Sacramento.
Waiting to see something in the ag papers but nothing yet.

Russo Gangsters

There have been many many cases of Russian mobsters moving in to lucrative trades, short term of course; best one I've heard yet would be the outfit that set up a chain of ATM machines in ( where else ) little russia in New York, collected untold numbers of ATM #s, made simultaneous withdrawals over a long weekend, long gone, feds know who it is but he is free man today. This was a major scam.

rip offs happen every year in almonds. Most of these can be avoided by getting contracts and hiring your own trucker.

Next hives crash in transit. 5 to 6 % is normal for good bees. We figure most die from the cold while being on the front of the load but not sure why as ALL looked good before shipment.

Next although a state inspector said the bees were ok did he check for varroa load and nosema spore counts. I think not.

Going to California is the best solution. Then you should be able to tell if you were ripped off ( happens in almonds at times) or your bees crashed for whatever reasons ether before they arrived or soon after ( happens in almonds every year)

snip..
We were told that they were full of disease and also ccd. We have not had much CCD around here, but it beats all, if when the bees leave they take the frames with them.

tecumseh:
very curious thread.

to my fellow mountaineer... I suspect like us injuns you will need to just persevere thru this problem you find yourself in....

as to my above snip... if the science folks cannot tell me what ccd is, how would some broker know or suspect that ccd was the cause of the decline of your bees? sounds like thinly contrive EXCUSE going on here.

now.... everyone join in the the refrain of the california pollinator's song..

all the gold in california....
is in a vault in the middle of beverly hills
in someone else's name
so if your goin'.. to california
it don't matter where you've played before
califonia a brand new game.

ps... with a bit of footwork and planning and the building of personal relationships a better system can be established than working thru brokers or middlemen who may or maynot know squat about a honeybee.

I am part of a group of beeks for West Virginia. We sent 400 hives to Ca. through a broker in Ohio. Our bees were inspected before they went for diseases, strenth, etc. They were delivered in December. The growers claimed they were in good shape. A month ago we received good reports. Now that the pollination season out there is over the growers claim that all our bees are diseased, most of them dead and they are not going to pay a cent. It will cost us $44 for each hive to get them back.

The main person running this operation has sent bees to the same farm for 7 years the only difference was the bee broker was different this year.

Much of this sounds fishy. I was told that a load of bees only cost 7,000 dollars to haul. That is roughly $16 a hive, not $44.

It seems that we sent bees, they used them, then stole them.

Is there anything we can do? Lawsuit? Should we send someone to inspect them?

lawyer haters?

with + $40000 at stake in pollination fees and what appears to be $40000 in dead bees my not so new math says a possible loss approaching $100000 and you think this is going to be worked out without a lawyer.. or two? good luck on that one pilgrim.

I am certain (uh huh) none of the naysayers here would hire a lawyer if someone owned them $100000.

Careful, Keith, about making assumptions, you might get sued.
Seriously, I agree one should hire a lawyer based on their qualifications, but without looking at the resume you have no idea of one's expertise or experience. The lawyer who posted looks like an experienced pollinator (JPK, if you are still looking for a pollination contract, there is one on his site) and may be quite familiar with CA laws concerning pollination.
Sheri

Pollination Contracts and Lawyers

Personally I think that the industry will only survive if there is a move to paying for pollination on a frame basis. That does not mean that 5 frames of bees is worth half of 10 frames, but it certainly is not worth nothing to the Orchard grower either.

Yes, I do pollination with my own bees.

Yes, I am an accomplished litigator, the first "Ford Bronco" roll over case, and Firestone and Warrington Rubber and Ford Seatbelt cases, and other litigation and PI cases.

But that is not the point here. Here you have someone, several someones, that may have lost almost $100,000. If there is one thing most of us can not stand it is theft, if there was any, or that type of reckless or gross mismanagement, if any, or a failure on behalf of Mother Nature and the conditions on the ground, if that is what it turns out to be, that, no matter which of these it is, does not bode well for ANY OF US planning on doing pollination in California next year.

Let us gather all the facts and see how we can solve this problem and in the process make the world better for all of us Beekeepers, before we all perish in these "interesting times".